Neomillennial Learning Styles and River City

Abstract

Evidence for the present study derives from a sample of 574 middle-grades students that participated in the River City Project (RCP) in academic year 2006-07. Central to the RCP is an open-ended video-game-like learning innovation for teaching inquiry-based science and twenty-first century skills. Results of investigation into the students’ neomillennial learning styles revealed that, on average, students who (1) prefer creating and sharing artifacts through the Internet are well-suited for learning about disease transmission and scientific problem solving skills in the RCP; and (2) students who feel highly connected with the media, tools, and people they use for communication, expression, and problem solving in the RCP are more likely to believe they are able to complete activities common to practicing scientists. However, students who avoid the same activities and/or do not share the same predilections may not do as well in RCP.